Whether you’re applying for a job, internship,

college, or training opportunity, let your Girl

Scout Cookie™ business experience play a

starring role on your resume. Why? Because the

skills you learned and goals you accomplished

are significant assets. Naming them on a resume

is a powerful way to stand out and show that you

know how to think like an entrepreneur.

Steps1. Get to know your business; set your goals

and budget

2. Research resumes and track your

experiences

3. Boost your marketing skills

4. Use marketing to expand your network

5. Create a cookie portfolio

PurposeWhen I’ve earned this badge, I will know how to

create a resume and portfolio that highlight the

skills I’ve gained running my cookie business.

My Cookie Business Resume

Ambassador

Step 1: Get to know your business; set your goals and budgetKnow your business and kick off your plan. Find out what’s new

this cookie season. What are the big deadlines? What are the cookie

costs and varieties? What are the rewards and troop proceeds?

Dig up everything you can about Digital Cookie®/Smart Cookies®

sales and the marketing and sales tools available for Girl Scout

Cookie business leaders. Take a look at the resources available on

girlscouts.org; check out your council website, too. Explore ideas

for your goals, then create a budget.

Choices—do one:

Explore with your team. Break into two groups to research: One

will look at cookie business resources and the other will come up

with goal-setting ideas. The cookie business group will explore the

latest marketing tools, past sales data, Digital Cookie/Smart Cookies,

cookie costs and varieties, and other related topics. The goal-setting

group will work on a troop budget by brainstorming how to use your

money and seeing how much those plans might cost. Present your

findings to the larger group, then create your budget and set goals.

Discover new ideas. As a team, review all the new cookie business

materials provided by your council and GSUSA. Then brainstorm

ways to use your money as a team. Gather in a circle and have the

first team member write down an idea, then pass the paper to the

next person. The next team member will build on the original idea or

add their own. After a few rounds, gather the papers and share them

with the group. Then pick your favorite ideas, determine the cost,

and set your budget.

Get feedback on your plan. Research the latest marketing tools,

past sales data, the Digital Cookie/Smart Cookies platform, cookie

costs and varieties, and other related topics. Then, as a team, come

up with a plan for how to use your money and see how much those

plans might cost. Ask each team member to get feedback on the

plan—it can be from a family member, friend, older Girl Scout, or

other trusted adult. Come back together as a group and share your

notes. Are your goals realistic? What can you change about your

plan? Together, decide what changes to make and revise your plan.

Before you explore, review the “Supplemental Safety

Tips for Online Marketing” and

Digital Marketing Tips for Cookie

Entrepreneurs and Families”

at girlscouts.org.

Earn your Ambassador

Cookie Entrepreneur

Family pin! Go to girlscouts.org/

ambassadorcookiepin to find

the requirements.

2 | Ambassador

Brand: The name, symbol, mark, or logo a company uses to identify its product. It’s also the way other

people, especially your customers, think about and experience your product.

Brand identity: The image your business projects, including everything from your logo to how people

perceive your business.

Cookie entrepreneur: When you sell Girl Scout Cookies®, you set goals, talk to customers, make decisions,

make mistakes, and try again. This is all part of being an entrepreneur!

Digital Cookie/Smart Cookies: A way for customers to buy cookies online. Depending on where you live,

you will either use Digital Cookie (for Little Brownie Bakers councils) or Smart Cookies (for ABC Bakers

councils) to manage digital sales.

Digital marketing: Using technology, such as computers, smartphones, and social media, to reach

your customers.

Entrepreneur: Someone who creates something or finds a way to help people and solve problems.

Entrepreneurs often use their ideas to create a business.

Feedback: What someone thinks about your ideas or how you run your business.

Package goal: How many packages of cookies you and your troop plan to sell.

Portfolio: A portfolio shows examples of your work, which can include videos, cookie booth photos, events

you organized, and even a pitch script you wrote.

Resume: A way to present your work experience in a concise yet detailed way for the purposes of hiring.

Troop goal: What you plan to do with the money your troop earns selling cookies.

Troop proceeds: How much your troop will get for each package sold, based on your council and budget.

Safety FirstFind out how to keep your cookie business safe. Go to girlscouts.org to find

safety guidelines for selling digitally, door-to-door, or at a cookie booth.

Words to Know

My Cookie Business Resume | 3

4 | Ambassador

Step 2: Research resumes and track your experiencesA resume is a way to present your work experience in a concise yet

detailed way for the purposes of hiring. Resumes are not one size

fits all—they are a personal expression of your work and experience

history. Find out which resumes are the most effective and what

works best for you. Then create a journal, inspiration board, or blog

to track your business experience and the skills you learn along the

way in order to build your resume.

Choices—do one:

Invite a college or job recruiter to a meeting. Find out what grabs

their attention on a resume. What are the most important things to

include? How should you organize your information? How critical

is formatting? Do you need a different resume when presenting

online and in person? How do you quantify and qualify your results?

(Quantify is the hard data or numbers behind your results. Qualify

means to describe how you reached your results.) Tell the recruiter

about some of the skills you’ve learned and what you enjoy about

running your own cookie business. Ask for tips on how to translate

that experience into your resume. After this session, research

resume samples online and keep a journal, inspiration board, or blog

to track your skills.

Go online to get ideas. Check out different resume templates

online and think about which ones would best highlight your

accomplishments. Learn how to create resumes aimed for different

opportunities. Explore what recruiters are looking for in a resume

and which formats they prefer. Decide how you’ll format your

resume and start tracking your skills through a journal, inspiration

board, or blog. Then make a list of the skills you’ve gained by

running your own cookie business. Research language online that

can help you add your experience to your resume.

Dive into your past. If you’ve sold cookies for years, recreate your

sales experience from the time you started selling. Create a timeline

and make a chart of your personal sales trajectory. Did you do better

with sales one year than another? Put your history into a statistic you

can use on your resume. (Six years of cookie sales with a 25% growth

in sales each year, for example.) Collect your history and track your

sales data and skills through a journal, inspiration board, or blog.

Think Like a Cookie

EntrepreneurGetting feedback can help

improve your ideas and the decisions you make as

a cookie entrepreneur.

1. Get feedback ⇨ 2. Analyze feedb

ack ⇨ 3. Select changes to make ⇨ 4. M

ake ch

ange

s ⇨

5. T

est a

gain

⇨

My Cookie Business Resume | 5

Step 3: Boost your marketing skillsLearn strategies to market your cookie business and find ways to market yourself to meet your goals. Create a plan

for both and get feedback from someone else, such as a mentor, family member, business leader, or entrepreneur.

Incorporate the feedback and suggestions and revise your plans as you progress.

Choices—do one:

Meet with a marketing expert. Find out how to build your marketing skills for your cookie business and translate

those skills into marketing yourself. Use this knowledge to market yourself and your business to customers. Come up

with a marketing plan for both.

Research marketing tactics online. Look for ones that align with your cookie business goals and support your

budget. Are there creative marketing strategies you can use for both your business and to market you? Find out

what online marketing tools are available for you to use, then come up with a marketing plan for you and your

cookie business.

Define your cookie brand identity and your personal brand. Go online to find ways Girl Scout Cookies set

themselves apart from other brands. Then write a brand identity statement. What does your cookie business offer?

Who is your target market? How are you best at what you do? Then make the same kind of statement for yourself.

Ask your Girl Scout team and adults in your life to help you identify your special skills and strengths. Think of what

you’d tell someone about you in a networking situation. Think about how you’d incorporate this into your resume.

6 | Ambassador

Marketing YOU

Think of yourself as a product that you want to promote! Here are some things to consider:

● What’s your value? In marketing speak, it’s called your unique

value proposition. What are your special skills and abilities?

● What’s your goal? Where do you see yourself in 6 months?

In a year?

● How will you measure your goals? Set specific goals with timelines.

● Identify your target markets. This could be a trade you want to

learn, a college you want to attend, or a career you intend to have.

● What resources will you need? Will you take classes, volunteer at

an organization, or expand your network? Make a list.

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My Cookie Business Resume | 7

8 | Ambassador

Step 4: Use marketing to expand your networkDecide how to expand your network. How can you earn loyal

customers who come back next year? Analyze data from your past

sales. Who are longtime customers? Where will you meet new

customers? How can you expand your network using your marketing

messages? How can you get to know your network members a little

more, so you can start thinking about how to leverage their support

when you move beyond your Girl Scout Cookie business?

Choices—do one:

Use your digital tools. Create a cookie business pitch video you can

use for your digital promotions and include in your portfolio. Check

out “Digital Marketing Tips for Cookie Entrepreneurs and Families”

at girlscouts.org/cookiedigitalmarketing and find other resources

online for ideas. Research ways other Girl Scout Cookie business

leaders have used digital selling methods. Find ways to expand your

network online through career and community websites.

Create marketing messages for different segments of

customers. When you look at your customers in segments, it

makes it easier to know how to market to them. What do they have

in common? Were their purchases in the same price range? What

are the demographic characteristics (like age and gender) of your

customers? Are there customers who only buy to donate? Who

do you consider your target market? As a team, create marketing

messages for your strongest segments of customers. Then come up

with a way to use your network to find large groups of people to

pitch to.

Talk to an expert. Get information from someone with experience

launching a business. This can be someone you speak to one-on-

one, invite to a meeting, or find through a video of online business

leaders talking about their experiences. Find out how they created

their customer base. How do they keep customers loyal? What

strategies do they use to expand their network? Take what you

learn and come up with marketing messages that will attract

new customers.

My Cookie Business Resume | 9

10 | Ambassador

Step 5: Create a cookie portfolio Pull your experiences into a dynamic portfolio that includes

your resume, sample marketing materials, and a cover letter that

showcases your skills and interests. A portfolio shows examples of

your work, which can include videos, pitch scripts, cookie booth

photos, or events you organized. Use notes from your business

journal, inspiration board, or blog to reflect on your experience.

Choices—do one:

Work with a mentor. A mentor is someone who can guide your

choices and help you grow. This might be a guidance counselor,

businessperson, or coworker of a family member or friend. Find

ways a mentor can help you with your resume, cover letter,

and portfolio presentation. Practice presenting your portfolio to

your mentor and make changes as you get feedback. For helpful

information, check out “Maximizing Mentorship: A Girl Scout Guide”

at girlscouts.org/maximizingmentorship.

Create a digital portfolio. Turn your portfolio materials into

something you can share online. Look for online portfolio

design tools you can use. Include your resume, list of skills,

your bio, cookie business marketing samples, awards and

accomplishments, and anything else you’ve collected (consistent

with Girl Scouts’ Internet Safety Pledge). Organize your materials

so your audience can easily find the information. Make it visually

appealing and don’t forget to update it each time you have

something new to add.

Present your portfolio. After you assemble your portfolio, show it

to at least three people in a mock interview setting. Ask for feedback

and make changes. What really stood out to them as your strengths?

Do these things align with what you think of as your strengths?

Are there other opportunities to showcase more of your skills

and experiences?

Want to gain more skills? Earning

your Entrepreneur Accelerator

badge will give you even more

tools to learn about how to harness

your cookie skills into a dynamic

presentation to show what you

can do.

My Cookie Business Resume | 11

TM ® & © 2021 Girl Scouts of the United States of America. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical methods, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, now known or hereinafter invented, without the prior written permission of Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permissions requests, write to GSUSA at the address below or visit the www.girlscouts.org website to access permission request forms.

First published in 2021 by Girl Scouts of the United States of America 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018-2798 www.girlscouts.org

12 | Ambassador

Volunteer’s Guide to the My Cookie Business Resume Badge*

*Detailed choice activities, meeting tools, and additional resources and materials can be found within the Volunteer Toolkit on my.girlscouts.org.

Find tips and ideas to help you guide your troop through this badge.

Step 1: Get to know your business; set your goals and budget • 30–40 minutes

Materials for all choices: computers, smartphones, or tablets; order cards, paper, pencils

Ask: What big goals do you have this year? Share: Know your business and kick off your plan. Find out what cookie varieties are available this year and how much they cost. Dig up everything you can about Digital Cookie®/Smart Cookies® sales and marketing tools that are available. Think about past sales successes and challenges as you create your team plans.

Choices—do one:

● Explore with your team. Have Ambassadors choose their own research teams and take notes to share with the troop. They can use breakout rooms and a shared document if meeting virtually. At the end, come together to solidify goals and set a budget.

● Discover new ideas. Suggest that Ambassadors review “Digital Marketing Tips for Cookie Entrepreneurs and Families” (girlscouts.org/cookiedigitalmarketing) and other GSUSA or council resources. From there, suggest the brainstorming activity described in the badge booklet or have Ambassadors come up with another way to share ideas. Ask them to decide on their favorite ideas, determine the cost, and set their budget.

● Get feedback on your plan. Recommend that Ambassadors research the latest on Girl Scout Cookies. Have them come up with a plan for how to use their money and research the costs. Ask each Ambassador to get feedback from an experienced Girl Scout alum, family member, or other person. Then have them discuss the feedback and decide how to revise their plan.

Step 2: Research resumes and track your experiences • 30–40 minutes

Ask: How do you keep track of your cookie business experiences? Share: A resume is a way to present your work and experience history in a concise yet detailed way for the

purposes of hiring. Track your business experience and the skills you learn along the way in order to build your resume.

Choices—do one:

● Invite a college or job recruiter to a meeting. Ask your guest to share their insights with the troop. Have Ambassadors come prepared to ask questions and share some of the skills they’ve learned. Afterwards, recommend that they research resume samples and keep a journal, inspiration board, or blog to track their skills and experiences.

Materials: computers, smartphones, or tablets; paper, pencils

● Go online to get ideas. Have Ambassadors research resume templates online and find out what recruiters are looking for, then decide on a resume format they think will work best. Next, suggest team members track their skills through a journal, inspiration board, or blog, and then research language online that can help them add their experience to their resume.

Materials: computers, smartphones, or tablets

● Dive into your past. Tell Ambassadors to bring previous sales data to the meeting. Have them create a timeline and chart personal sales on graph paper or digitally. Ask project participants to analyze their sales trends and chart their trajectory. Have them review their sales history and convert the data into a statistic that they can use on their resume. Then they’ll use a journal, inspiration board, or blog to continue to track sales data and skills.

Materials: graph paper, pencils; computers, smartphones, or tablets

Step 3: Boost your marketing skills • 20–30 minutes

Materials for all choices: paper and pencils

Ask: How can you improve your marketing skills? Share: Learn strategies to market your cookie business and find ways to market yourself to meet your goals. Create a plan for both and get feedback from someone else, such as a mentor,

AMBASSADOR • My Cookie Business Resume | 1

TM ® & © 2021 Girl Scouts of the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical methods, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, now known or hereinafter invented, without the prior written permission of Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permissions requests, write to GSUSA at the address below or visit the www.girlscouts.org website to access permission request forms.

First published in 2021 by Girl Scouts of the United States of America, 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018-2798, www.girlscouts.org

family member, or entrepreneur. Use “Marketing YOU” on page 7 to think about how you can promote yourself.

Choices—do one:

● Meet with a marketing expert. Use your networks to connect the troop with an expert in the marketing field. Ask that Ambassadors come prepared with questions and ready to talk about their cookie business skills and experience. Ambassadors can use expert feedback to come up with a plan to market themselves and their business to customers.

● Research marketing tactics online. Have Ambassadors research marketing tactics online that will allow them to market both their business and themselves. Encourage them to come up with a plan that supports their goals and budget. Reassure these young marketeers that, at first, it may feel strange to promote themselves, but this type of confidence is an important life skill!

● Define your cookie brand identity and your personal brand. Have Ambassadors create a brand identity statement that speaks to what sets their business apart from others, and then produce one about themselves. Try this: Write the name of each person on separate sheets of paper (or digitally). Ask that they add the skills and strengths that they see in each other. Ambassadors can use this feedback (even ask family or more friends to contribute) to inform their own identity statement.

Step 4: Use marketing to expand your network • 20–30 minutes

Materials for all choices: computers, smartphones, or tablets

Ask: How can you expand your network with marketing messages? Share: Analyze data from your past sales and learn who your loyal customers are and where you can meet new customers. Find out how you can get to know your network a little more, so you can leverage their support when you move beyond your Girl Scout Cookie business.

Choices—do one:

● Use your digital tools. Recommend that Ambassadors explore “Digital Marketing Tips for Cookie Entrepreneurs and Families” (girlscouts.org/cookiedigitalmarketing) as well as research other Girl Scout Cookie business leaders for inspiration. Then they can create a cookie business pitch video to include in digital promotions and add to their portfolios. Suggest that these cookie entrepreneurs consider expanding their network through career and community websites.

● Create marketing messages for different segments of customers. Have Ambassadors bring their past customer and sales records to the meeting. Instruct them to use the questions in the badge booklet to analyze their customer base. From there, these young cookie experts can create customized marketing messages for their strongest segments of customers.

● Talk to an expert. Use your networks to help connect the troop with someone who has experience launching a business. Or ask Ambassadors to search for videos of business leaders talking about their experiences with starting up and creating a customer base. Have them take what they learn and come up with marketing messages that will attract new customers.

Step 5: Create a cookie portfolio • 20–30 minutes

Materials for all choices: Ambassadors’ resumes, cover letters, portfolio materials; computers, smartphones, or tablets

Ask: How can you showcase your cookie business experience? Share: Pull your experiences into a dynamic portfolio that includes your resume, sample marketing materials, and a cover letter that showcases your skills and interests. You can include videos, pitch scripts, and cookie booth photos. You can also add your Girl Scout experience managing Take Action projects, planning big events, and more.

Choices—do one:

● Work with a mentor. Ask Ambassadors to identify and connect with someone who they feel would be a good mentor. Have them ask for feedback on their resume, cover letter, and portfolio presentation skills. Direct Ambassadors to “Maximizing Mentorship: A Girl Scout Guide” at girlscouts.org/maximizingmentorship for more information.

● Create a digital portfolio. Suggest that Ambassadors review portfolio building websites. They can organize materials like their resume, bio, cookie business marketing samples, awards, and accomplishments in a digital space that is easy to update and share. Remind them not to share personal information like their last name or address.

● Present your portfolio. Ambassadors can choose to team up and take turns presenting to each other, or they can present their portfolio to different family members (either in person or online) to get feedback.

AMBASSADOR • My Cookie Business Resume | 2